The king has a birthday, we become tourists, and some hard work

Dec 5 2014

Today is the 87^th birthday of the King of Thailand. He has ruled since 1946 and is the longest ruling living monarch. He is also the wealthiest. The Thai people love the king and revere him. Photos of the king are everywhere: on all government buildings, in shops, in people’s homes and along the roadside. It is against the law to criticize him or anyone in the royal family. Occasionally in the US, we read about a tourist who makes some negative comment and lands in jail. It is a serious offense.

All over the country celebrations are held on this special day. WePair and Timm. It was our first attendance at the kings birthday celebration. Everyone wears yellow shirts on the king’s birthday. We each had shirts from a previous visit. They had been gifts as neither of us ever wear yellow. We ate an early dinner and then went over to Pair’s house. We could walk to the stage area which was only a few blocks away. The stage had a large photo of the king and was draped with yellow bunting. There were presentations of flowers from each of the 17 villages in the province. These were brought to the stage by local officials and placed along the back of the stage on a table.

There were some traditional dancers in costume on the stage. Later, a dignitary gave a short prayer and lit a huge candle. Each attendee had been given a candle in a holder with a protective plastic ‘vase’ shaped like a lotus blossom.  Everyone helped their neighbor light their candle from the one they had lit. There was a prayer and several songs with audience participation.

Pair and her mother Timm

There was a sea of yellow shirts and candles. We estimated that over 500 people attended. We were glad to be invited and experience yet another cultural event in Thailand.





Some time in the late 30’s Siam became Thailand when it became a democracy.  The new name means land of the free. Recently, there was unrest  in Thailand and a military coup occurred earlier this year and the military is still in power awaiting elections.


 Dec 7

Ron’s work clothes are up at the big house being washed so can’t finish his painting project. He is a wee bit bored. So today we decided to be tourists and visit a floating market about an hour from our house. We were proud that we didn’t  miss any of the turns as sometimes signage is lacking.

We went to the Amphara floating market. Floating markets consist of vendors who use their small boats to sell their food and other products along the banks of a canal. There are many in of these inheThailand. At this market most of the food was prepared meals as opposed to fresh fruits or veggies. Seafood dominated.  We weren’t the only attendees. The place was crowded with Thais who come here for their mid day meal. All along the canal are shops selling more food and tourist trinkets, t-shirts, cell phone covers, etc.





We walked most of the length of the canal on both sides. They were hawkers trying to generate interest in boat rides but we passed. Many others took the trip. It is amazing how easily the vendors set up their boat to be able to cook on the boat. Charcoal seemed to be the popular option for barbequing. Ron took lots of photos and we popped into an art gallery and read a bio on one of the artists who had shown his work in Portland OR! Small world indeed. Afterwards we walked into an open garden like area and ate curry with chicken and fried rice for our lunch.

On the way home we explored a large grocery store that is near our town. Lo and behold they had Danish blue cheese and brie! I also found raw almonds which is one of my best snacks. We didn’t buy the brie but did get the blue cheese, some pasta and the almonds. None of these are available in our town and we usually have to get them in BKK or Hua Hin. More discoveries.

Dec 8

We drove to Hua Hin to see Bill and Kay who are there for a few days. We discovered a new restaurant that had been recommended by Kay’s banker friend. Yum! Crab curry, one of my favorite dishes, fried fish with fried garlic (Ron’s fave), green papaya salad (Kay’s fave) and fried squid (Bill’s fave). YUM, yum, yum! We were right on the beach which was dotted with farangs (foreigners) in skimpy bathing suits and large bellies. I would guess they are Europeans. Afterwards Ron and I ran errands and then got massages before coming home. We ate ham sandwiches for dinner after our big lunch. It was a treat to eat light.

We now frequent the Pagoda coffee shop three or four times a week. It is staffed by young Thais (let’s face it-at our age everyone is young unless they are our friends! HA!). One of the young women always calls out as we are leaving ‘I love you’. I blow her a kiss from the doorway. Life is good here in Thailand.

Dec 10

Last night Ron and I were in the family tool storage room up at the big house. There is an out building with four large rooms: a kitchen (kitchens are usually outside or a separate building due to the heat in tropical countries), a room used to hold recyclable materials, the ‘tool’ room, and a room used by Nit on the weekends when he is here overnight from BKK. Ron uses the tool room when he paints. The room has been a total jumble of electrical wires, about 20 empty large and extra large plastic containers, hand tools, garden tools, paint cans…you name it. You could hardly move in there as everything was thrown on some limited shelving in no particular order or on the floor where you could hardly move around the stuff. It had not been organized or cleaned in years if not decades. Ron had been looking at some additional shelving downtown on our walks. I suggested that we make a gift to the family before we left in January.

While we were up at the house, Ron called Tumm over to the room. Tumm and Timm are here almost nightly due to Pa Cha An’s health. Ron suggested using an old door to make another shelf on the existing shelving. Tumm liked the idea and said ‘tomorrow at 4:00’.  

The next day was apparently a holiday today as Hope wasn’t in school and Timm and Tumm weren’t at work and Tui was here from BKK. Around  10:00 we were going to go to town but saw that Tumm was here already working on the tool room, so we walked back to our house and changed into work clothes. Ron and Tumm cut up the old door and used it for the new shelves. They also mounted a cabinet on the wall by adding L brackets; drilling through the concrete to affix it to the walls. Lastly they mounted a board on the wall from which tools could hang. The entire day was spent with Tumm, Ron and me ( and we were later joined by Timm and Noy) to take almost everything out of the room, sort it into piles of alike items such as electrical, plumbing, throw away, etc. We swept out the room and organized the shelves.

Timm arrived around noon and had lunch for all of us: khao mon gai and bbq chicken wings. It was delicious. After lunch we had Tui call the man who makes shelving whom we had met downtown on our walks. We asked for a quote and Tumm got so excited he asked for a quote for shelving in the recycle room which is filled to the gunnels with every manner of material: glass, tin, plastic, paper and who knows what else. We gave the shelf maker a 50% deposit and ordered the shelving. The family will pay for the recycle room and we paid for the tool room. Tui was so touched. Her father had some wonderful old wood working tools that have been stored in the room. Her dream was to have the room organized. Ron said the woodworking tools are valuable because they don’t make them like that anymore and they are wonderfully preserved. All of us were excited about the progress and how the room will function once the shelving arrives in 4-7 days. We went back to the house and Ron took his third shower of the day: one after painting this morning, one after lunch when he was covered in saw dust from cutting the door up and another one at the end of the day around 6:00. We went into the bedroom and turned on the AC while we checked our email. We had nothing to eat in the house so planned to go to town and get some take away pad Thai. When I left the bedroom I spied dinner on our table. Ae had gone to pick up two great noodles dishes and soup that Tui had paid for in appreciation for what we had initiated and had done for the family. We were thrilled with the delicious meal and that we didn’t have  to go out. It was a good day here in Thailand.